Janice Litman-Goralnik
Janice Litman Goralnik, née Hosenstein is a recurring character on Friends. She was Chandler Bing's long-time on-again girlfriend. She is known for her obnoxious and nasaly voice and her trademark cry of "OH MY GOD!" Janice is also considered one of the most popular and humorous recurring characters in the entire series. Biography Season 1 Janice is the girlfriend of Chandler Bing since before the start of season one. Chandler wants to break up with Janice but every time he tries she breaks into tears and he can't do it. Chandler gets Phoebe to help him break up with her since she's really good at not making people upset when breaking up with them. Janice meets with Chandler at Central Perk and Chandler sends Phoebe over to break up with Janice for him. Chandler looks over from a far and watches Phoebe talk to Janice. Phoebe says a few things and she and Janice hug and Janice leaves leaving Chandler shocked. ("The One With The East German Laundry Detergent") On New Years Eve, the six friends make a pact to not have a date on New Years Day but Chandler panicks when Monica gets a date, so he calls up Janice to get back together with her so they can kiss after the countdown to New Years Day. Chandler finds Janice really annoying when their together at Monica's apartment for the party. Chandler ends up breaking up with Janice again before New Years Day which leaves her upset. ("The One With The Monkey") With Valentine's Day coming up, Chandler doesn't have a date and Joey does. Joey has his date set Chandler up on a blind date. At the restaurant, Chandler's date turns out to be his ex-girlfriend, Janice. Janice is still mad at Chandler for breaking up with her twice in several months. Chandler and Janice are put in an awkward situation at dinner and Joey and his date ditch them. Chandler and Janice have a good time together and enjoy buying expensive liquid while charging it to Joey's credit card. The following morning, Chandler and Janice wake up in bed together and Chandler is grossed out and breaks up with her, yet again. Janice, surprizingly takes it well saying that she knows that they'll end up back together one day. ("The One With The Candy Hearts") Season 2 After the death of annoying neighbor Mr. Heckles, Chandler learns he is exactly like Mr. Heckles and Mr. Heckles died alone. Chandler gets paronoid that the same will happen to him so he calls his ex-girlfriend, Janice. Chandler was surprized to see that Janice was married and pregnant with a baby girl. Chandler was upset and asked why she didn't tell him over the phone that she was married and pregant and she said she wanted to see the look on his face in person. Janice leaves the coffee house after that. ("The One Where Heckles Dies") Chandler gets on a dating website and starts talking to a woman whom he gets along with really well with. Chandler continues talking to the woman and learns that she is married and her husband is cheating on her. Joey suggests they meet so they schedule to meet at Central Perk the next day for coffee. The next day, Chandler and Joey wait forever for the woman and think she might have stood him up. In the closing moments in the season two finale, Janice walks into Central Perk and said her catch phrase "OH MY GOD!!!" ("The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding") Season 3 Joey cannot stand that Chandler is dating Janice again. He tries to talk to the group about how to get rid of her, but they seem to have accepted her into the group more easily than he actually is. Eventually, Chandler finds out how Joey has a problem with Janice and tells her about this. Janice talks to Joey about this and drags him with her and hangs out with him for a whole day. Although Joey pretends to have had fun, he still can't stand the woman, but Chandler appreciates his gesture and his efforts to like her. ("The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy") After accidentally calling Janice fat, Chandler rushes for help to Ross and Rachel. The two are willing to help him out with this stuff, until Chandler asks about the cuddling problem he has at night, when he can't sleep comfortably because Janice is cuddled up against him. Rachel says that she and Ross are "cuddly sleepers" and can't help him out. Ross, on the other hand, knows exactly what Chandler is experiencing and lets him in on a secret. Unfortunately, Chandler does not succeed in carrying Ross' solution without rolling Janice off the bed. He also fails to keep his secret from Janice, who tells Rachel, who is upset with Ross. ("The One With The Jam") As things move forward with Janice, Chandler starts to freak out about commitment and goes to the guys for advice. Joey tells him to face his fear and, in doing so, Chandler meets with Janice and gives her a drawer. She thinks he's sweet, until he overdoes his bit and ends up declaring they should take a trip with her parents and that he and Janice move in together. This scares her to the point she leaves his apartment, and he ends up chasing her down the street. For him, it's time for advice from the girls, who give him low-fat ice-cream and suggest him to follow Janice and act aloof, which he does at her superstore. The only problem with this is that she spots him stalking her and figures out what he's trying to do, which leaves him in an even worse position with her. When he recounts this latest misdemeanor, the girls are about to fetch the good ice-cream which they leave for "terminal cases", when the phone rings. Instead of heeding for their advice, Chandler is just himself with Janice, and confesses how he just wants to move forward in his relationship with her because he's crazy about her. He and Janice end up telling each other "I love you", which is terminal enough for the girls to dig into the good ice-cream themselves. ("The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel") The episode begins with the group and talking. Janice asks who of the group have slept together. When they deny that any of them have, she asks if any of them have "almost...", leading into the flashback. ("The One With The Flashback") Janice's ex-husband, Gary Litman starts making money off of advertizing his divorce which cause more of his mattresses to sell. Janice and Gary preparing to finalize their divorce. At the end of the episode, Monica and Joey go to Janice's ex-husband's store where they catch Janice kissing her soon-to-be ex-husband. ("The One With The Race Car Bed") Still in shock for what he saw in the previous episode, Joey and Monica reveal to the group that he just witnessed Janice kissing her ex-husband. Joey tries not to tell Chandler about it, but when he sees him yearning in front of pearls, which he wants to buy for Janice's birthday, he can't hold it any longer and reveals the kiss to Chandler. Out of disbelief, Chandler tries to accuse Joey of being wrong, but Joey confirms what he saw to him. Chandler confronts Janice, who admits to having kissed her ex-husband at least twice. She also reveals to be in love with both men, but can't bring herself to choose one. After talking to Joey, Chandler makes Janice go back with her ex-husband, as he doesn't want to be the reason for splitting up a family. He soon changes his mind about this, however, as Janice tells Chandler that she's his soulmate; nonetheless, she leaves to be with her ex-husband. ("The One With The Giant Poking Device") Season 4 Rachel takes Chandler to a nail salon where he feels out of place since there aren't any men there. Chandler and Rachel run into a recently divorced Janice. Janice wants to get back together with Chandler and tells him she will never leave him again. Chandler reluctantly gets back together with Janice and tries to think of ways to break up with her. Chandler says that he's being relocated over seas to a horrible country called Yemon. Janice is heartbroken and tells him that they will spend all the time they have left together. Janice spends every moment with Chandler right up till he's at the airport to leave. Chandler doesn't know what to do when Janice says she's going to stay until his plane takes off. Chandler reluctantly buys a ticket to Yemon and gets on the plane. While he's walking on to the plane, he asks an elderly woman if he can stay with her when he get's there. ("The One With All The Rugby") Season 5 After Ross learns his second ex-wife, Emily is getting remarried, Ross takes a walk through New York and ends up in bed with Janice. Everyone hates the fact that Ross is dating Janice now. Ross defends Janice since he enjoys her now. Ross always complains to Janice about his two divorces, his eviction, his unemployment, and learning his most recent ex-wife is remarrying. Janice breaks up with Ross because of all his whinning and she just can't take it anymore. Ross is heartbroken yet again but learns to move on from it. At the end of the episode, Ross confesses his brief fling to Chandler who laughs until Ross brings up the rule that best friends can't date each others ex-girlfriends or family members (this freaks out Chandler because he is secretly dating Ross's sister Monica.) ("The One With Chandler's Work Laugh") Season 6 Chandler gives Monica a romantic mix tape and they dance to the tape which Monica loves. At the end of the mix tape, Janice's voice is heard at the end with Janice telling Chandler happy anniversary. Monica is upset and goes into her room leaving Chandler on the couch. ("The One With Unagi") Season 7 Janice is dining at Alessandro's when she meets Monica, who is engaged to Chandler. Such is her confidence with Chandler and Monica that she invites herself to their wedding and tries to stay at their apartment so that they appreciate her as family. Monica can only send her away by telling her that Chandler has strong feelings for her, which would make her presence a problem. Janice leaves, wishing Monica "a lifetime of happiness", and tells Chandler to call her when his relationship goes in the pooper. ("The One With Ross' Library Book") Season 8 Janice gets remarried and has another kid. Season 9 In Season 9, " cup for his sample. She tries to comfort him by telling him that Ironically, by the end of the episode, Chandler and Janice learn that they are both incapable of natural conception, constricting them to resort to other methods to have children. Season 10 In the final season, Janice plans to move in next-door to Chandler and Monica in Westchester. Trivia *Maggie Wheeler's portrayal of Janice is a parody of Fran Drescher, who stars in The Nanny. *Season 6 is the only season in which Janice does not appear on-screen. She is, however, heard as a voice-over. *If the number of times Chandler slept with his girlfriends during the course of the show is proportional to their appearances, then Janice is the girl whom he slept with most after Monica; *Except for The One With The East German Laundry Detergent, The One With Chandler's Work Laugh, and The One With Unagi, Janice's first words on-screen are always: "OH! MY! GOD!". *Maggie Wheeler originally auditioned for the part of Monica but was turned down and given the role of Janice instead Personality Janice is portrayed as a kind, warm-hearted and considerate woman with a heavily nasal voice and an extravagate fashion sense. However, despite her lovely side, Janice is extremely annoying with her nasal cackle and her tendency to tease the friends, especially Chandler, about serious things (but not at all with any malice). She seems to be completely blind to the fact she gets on people's nerves and ignorantly proceeds to annoy. Janice is also a drama-queen and gets easily saddened or scared. Her trademark expression is "OH! MY! GOD!" with noticeable pauses in between each word and hands flapping in sync. Some speculate that she is a parody of Fran Drescher, known for her role in The Nanny. Even though her first and second appearance had made her seem like a nice lady in love with Chandler, the third got to the point where she became annoying to the whole gang, including Chandler. She is also rather oblivious, as the fact that she annoys them often seems to slip by her completely, even though the fact that she's annoying them is often fairly obvious. Despite this, she is still shown to be a rather sympathetic person with a kind heart, for example supporting Rachel as she gave birth and consoling Chandler when he was nervous about his fertility tests. Appearances Janice has appeared in every season of Friends, except Season 6, where only her voice is heard on a mix tape that she had previously made for Chandler while they were dating, as well as appearing in a clip show. Janice's total appearances are 3 in the first season, 2 in the second season, 6 in the third season (this was when Chandler was willingly in a relationship with her), and 1 appearance every season thereafter (although in the season six episode only her voice can be heard, and the Season 8 finale is technically two episodes). Category:Recurring Characters Category:Baby Category:Little mom